Author Interviews

How Taking A Stand For Justice Can Threaten The Careers Of Black Athletes

1:25pm June 12, 2020

by Dave Davies

Howard Bryant, author of The Heritage, discusses the history of social protest among African American athletes, including Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali. Originally broadcast Jan. 13, 2018.

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'Broken People' Author Sam Lansky Discusses Intimacy, Loneliness In Gay Community

6:26am June 11, 2020

NPR's Noel King talks to author Sam Lansky about his novel, Broken People. Set in Los Angeles, it weaves together themes of isolation, body image and addiction among gay men.

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Tomasz Jedrowski's Debut Novel Tells Teenage Love Story In '80s Poland

4:11pm June 10, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with author Tomasz Jedrowski about his debut novel, Swimming in the Dark, a coming-of-age story based in communist Poland.

White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo says the question white people should be asking themselves is not have I been shaped by race, but how have I been shaped by race? Above, protesters demonstrate in New York on June 1.

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'There Is No Neutral': 'Nice White People' Can Still Be Complicit In A Racist Society

8:47am June 10, 2020

by Ari Shapiro

White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo says that the status quo in the United States is racism, and for white people, that's comfortable. "We've got to start making it uncomfortable," she says.

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Author Naoise Dolan Discusses Her Debut Novel

5:06am June 10, 2020

NPR's David Greene speaks with Irish author Naoise Dolan about her novel, Exciting Times.

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Author L.L. McKinney started the #PublishingPaidMe hashtag so authors could publicize racial disparities in book advances.

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#PublishingPaidMe: Authors Share Their Advances To Expose Racial Disparities

10:56am June 09, 2020

by Mary Louise Kelly

Author L.L. McKinney created the #PublishingPaidMe hashtag, where black and white authors are comparing their book advances. "You can now use this to fight for what you are worth," she says.

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Douglas Boin Wants To 'Think Differently About Marginalized People' In New Book On Ancient Rome

8:01am June 07, 2020

NRR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to historian Douglas Boin about his book, Alaric the Goth: An Outsider's History of the Fall of Rome.

Sen. Tim Kaine, left, and then-Charlottesville mayor Michael Signer visit a temporary memorial Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017, where Heather Heyer was killed when a car rammed into a crowd of people protesting a white nationalist rally Charlottesville, Va.

In 'Cry Havoc,' Former Charlottesville Mayor Details A Tragic Day

6:45pm June 06, 2020

by Michel Martin

"The value of having fought for things and standing at the end, having the experience of having fought for them in the real world, there's nothing like it," Michael Signer tells NPR.

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Books

Connie Schultz On Her Debut Novel And The Story Of American Women

8:01am June 06, 2020

NPR's Scott Simon talks to author Connie Schultz about her debut novel, "The Daughters of Erietown."

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In 'A Burning,' Striving, Dreaming And Joking In The Face Of Oppression

8:01am June 06, 2020

by Scott Simon

Megha Majumdar's new novel is set during the aftermath of a terror attack in India, and examines the intersecting lives of three people affected by the events and the government's response.